Hemlock
by AvengerOfFiction
Summary: The Scouting Legion goes into the depths of Wall Maria to get more information and find Abnormals. Unfortunately they found them first… Blood is shed, but that's just another day in the Scouting Legion, right? It would be foolish to think that it would be any over way. This is not a story about death. This is a story about how to handle death and the threat of it.


**Scouting Legion.**  
 **29th Expedition.**  
 **Midday of Day 13.**  
 **Mission Target: Gather more information about abnormal Titans and their origins.**  
 **Mission Status: Failure.**  
 **Instructions by Commander Erwin Smith: Retreat and recamp on north side of the Forest of Giant trees.**

The sound of leafs being picked up by the wind echoed against the hardwood trunks. A silent fleet of soldiers shuffled across the forest floors, setting up camp and preparing for the night.

The smell of the giant tree's whisked away the gagging smell of Titan vomit that covered most of the soldiers. The Scouting Legion had been assigned by Hanji to search through the disgusting bile for some kind of clue when the titans last eaten. The smells were so strong that Levi could almost taste it, a mixture of decomposing humans, burning flesh and wet dog. All wrapped up in a strange, sticky slime that was impossible to get off.

Levi and Commander Smith were sitting across from each other, between them a fire, annoyance wafting from both sides.

"Are you questioning my decisions to retreat, Levi," asked Erwin breaking the silence.

Levi breathed loudly, grabbing a branch off the ground to occupy his hands. "I thought your decision to retreat was unnecessary."

"How so?" Erwin replied, shocked by the retort.

"This entire mission was unnecessary, a waste of supplies and good Scouting Legion soldiers." Levi's lips pinched shut and his eyes narrowed forward. "A mission into the depths of Wall Maria for information on titans, no leads towards the whereabouts of abnormals was a death sentence only produced to keep us busy."

"We had leads-"

"We had an inkling blown out of proportion by Hanji and her wild theories about how titan's communicate, a song she's been singing for far too long. She has no evidence to support it."

"She has no evidence because we have never supplied her with evidence." Erwin replied, blunter then he was meaning. "Obviously we are not learning anything by killing the damn things. Our mission has always been to find their weakness, learn to exploit it and defeat them. The Counsel-."

"The Counsel has never taken into account for lives lost. Sooner or later we are going to run out of soldiers and we won't even be able to find out a damn thing about the titans." he paused. "Going out here into dangerous territories with no information? Tsk. They just want us to die out already so they can close all the gates."

Erwin pinched the bridge of his nose. What Levi was saying made sense, but he could never take his side. As much as all the puzzle pieces started to line up he would never allow himself to believe those words. Those were dangerous words. Words that could take every soldier's hope away, the only thing that kept the Scouting Legion alive.

"Levi!" Erwin shouted, snapping Levi out of his meaningless activity of stoking the fire.

"If you say something like that again in this camp, I will string you up one of these trees and leave you for the titans." Levi looked at Erwin like he had lost his mind. Perhaps the awful fumes of titan vomit had gone to his head. It wasn't until Levi met Erwin's eye line that he knew he was serious.

"Is that understood, Corporal."

Levi dropped his branch, saluted his Commander and got up from his seat. He needed a shower.

 _Attack on Titan Attack on Titan Attack on Titan Attack on Titan Attack on Titan Attack on Titan_

The sun was going down, casting an orange dabble of light to blanket the forest floor. Lights from each squad's campfire spotlighted the circles of their camps, each one with a person as a lookout for signs of titans, camp fire attendant and a tent. With each squad only counting from 4 to 8, many of them had elected to just sleep on the ground next to the fire. It may be a little dirty, but it beat being stuck in a tent and being eating by a titan.

Levi was walking patrol, a responsibility he only took up if he wanted to avoid Erwin, Oruo or Hanji. So far just the presence of the Corporal was able to keep everyone in fear of acting out. Some of the older Scouting Legion soldiers knew that if Levi was taking camp patrol that he must be tempered about something.

Everything seemed to be fine, until Levi spotted a lone campfire with no tent by it, no spotter, campfire attendant, nothing.

A single teapot was resting on the campfire, its sides blackened by the countless times it had been used on trips just like this. As Levi approached he could hear the clear sound of it boiling over onto the fire.

 _Damn unconscious bastards, leaving their shit like this,_ He thought. _if the fire would become uncontained from this shitty pile of rocks around it, they could have burned this entire forest to the ground._

Levi grabbed the tea pot off the fire with his sleeve and set it to the side. He kicked dirt on the top of the fire then stomped on it for good measure.

Just as he was about to leave the site and look for the young bastard who would be so careless, his work load lighten a bit as he saw a black haired, boyish faced recruit trotting up the slope with a filthy jacket that was covered with dust and smells of disgusting titan vomit.

Levi glares at the boy, still standing by the newly extinguished fire.

"Why did you put out my fire?" the boy asks, his eyes darting from the blackened logs and the Corporal, questioning his own question as soon as it came out of his mouth

"It is required to have a solider from every squad to be stationed by the campfire to avoid igniting the forest on fire, which would alert every titan within a 50 kilometer range and attract them to the camp, killing even more lives, you dumbass," the Corporal explains, now clearly more pissed with the idiocy of the boy.

The young recruit looked up from his shoes with tears welling up to the brim of his brown eyes, a light blush on the side of his cheeks and regretful face. The boy couldn't contain the least bit of control over his trembling hands and his legs looked as if they might give out any second. Clearly this skinny, tall, scrawny boy was the runt of someone's squad, the laughing stalk and the bunt of all their jokes.

Levi had seen the books that Erwin kept. The death count was 48, only two shy of the count of the new recruits. Not all that died where new recruits, of course, but over two thirds of it was.

The first tears had started to fall now, framing his face with water. The boy was looking directly at Levi now. The boy clenched his fist and saluted the Corporal.

Levi looked the boy up and down, seeing this weakling tearing up after a few harsh words from a superior, but it was clear after a few seconds. _He doesn't have a squad left, the last one standing._

"You are to find a new Squad to attend on the trip back to wall Maria."

"Yes, Sir"

"And you are to take a shower and clean that jacket."

"Y- Yes, Sir"

Levi paused his orders to look around the empty campsite for more instructions when he glanced over to the teapot still simmering.

"What kind of tea is that?"

"Sir?"

"In the teapot."

"B- Black tea, sir. But I wo-"

A hysterical woman's voice interrupted the boy "Max! MAX!"

The boy swung around with a surprised look on his face mixed with terror, almost all soldiers that weren't occupied looked up with the same confusion.

"Max! You're alive!" A girl with bright orange hair and round face ran up the slope as fast as her feet would take her, a little too fast. Near the top she slipped on a wet branch and fell down on her hands and knees, but she picked herself up before either of the men could even think about helping her up.

"I am so happy you two are alive! I- I thought I would never see you guys again!" her voice, at first ecstatic became pained at the end when she saw that Levi wasn't the person she thought he was.

Max's face turned a lighter shade of white and took a step towards her while not making eye contact. Their bodies met in a hug and Max held the girl in his arms as he tried not to cry into her spotless green cloak.

"yeh-" Her eyes welled up, her grip onto Max's jacket tightened and her voice caught in her throat. "Please, max. Don't say- don't say… it…"

In the clear voice max responded to her question. "They are dead, Mitzi."

Max lead Mitzi away from the small, half buried campfire and down the slope.

"This world is fucked," Levi said, stooping down and picking the teapot off the ground, pouring himself a cup.

 _Attack on Titan Attack on Titan Attack on Titan Attack on Titan Attack on Titan Attack on Titan_

The rest of his time on patrol was a hassle, fights breaking out over the stupidest things, nerves wound tighter than a wrung out rag, breakdowns from some of their strongest soldiers, a low moment for the Scouting Legion, one that won't be spoken of again. Some nights are best left to be forgotten.

When Levi finally made it back to their squad's camp, he was almost relieved to see Erwin again.

It wasn't as if his feelings were hurt, no. That was much too childish, He simply knew Erwin too well. Days like these was the man's weakness, though he would never admit it, nor should he. This regiment deserved to believe that their leader was the immortal that he acted.

Hanji, Oruo, Eld and Erwin sat together on a log. Some of them had their hands outstretched towards the fire to keep warm, but all of them were bundled up with their green cloak, tucking it over their shoulders and hoods pulled overhead.

As he approached all three saw him, but felt no need to send pleasantries his way, nor did Levi feel the need, in fact he never did.

On top of the fire sat a pot of hot soup, remaining only the bare minimum to be considered a bowl. _Cunts_

Levi scooped out the contents and poured it into a bowl, barely filling it midway. He then poured himself a cup of black leaf tea, counting it as his 8th cup of the day, regretting none of his choices in fine beverages.

After his "bowl full" of soup, he pushed himself off of the log and away from the warm glow of the fire. A chat had ensued between Hanji and- well… really anyone that would listen. He made the choice to step away from the group and instead to the horses, which had yet to be properly treated for the night. He grabbed a torch and set on his way.

On the walk to the horses (50 to 70 meters away) Levi thought to himself the day's contents. Though most of the day had been a useless time of record keeping and searching through titan vomit, the few hours before they made camp here in the Forest were as bad as any day in the Scouting Legion gets.

The place that Hanji had predicted to have a high count of titans was just so, just not as obvious as she had thought. When the regiment had let their guard down to sift through the balls of body parts of fallen soldiers and those that were sent back to into wall Maria, a group of titans had come in through the south and east hills, a pack of at least 20, all over 10 meter class, moving in fast, giving the regiment little time to gather up and retreat. It was, in all the most literally ways, a bloodbath.

It wasn't the regiments first, nor was its last, but troubles of any battle like that brought the worst out of anyone.

While Levi was caught up with his thoughts, he noticed how the soil had become increasingly soft and harder to walk in the farther he got from his squad, he was trenching through mud. Levi continued forward without change in his pace. It was a feeling that was almost preferable then to be alone with his opinions, a self-torment that kept him from wandering.

Levi continued walking through the forest, the cold starting to become slightly bothersome. He brought uphis hands to his mouth to warm them, only to look down and realize he was trembling violently, more than this light chill would have been able to cause.

Levi was stunned. In all his years of working with the Scouting Legion, not once had he caught even the slightest trimmer. His hands were steady as a rock. He stretched his fingers apart and looked carefully. _Why after all these years do you betray me now?_

Levi snapped his fist shut, thinking possibly he could shake the flutter away, push it away with strength… but the strength never came…

He tried to shut his hands, tried, tried, tried! It was like his hands weren't his own, not following his commands anymore. _Goddamnit! Fucking work!_

Levi fell over on the ground, slamming them on the ground. _Work, work WORK!_ The slight panic he had started off with now shot through his chest, his heart beating un-rhythmically, thumbing like a tired man with a hammer.

 _Calm down, Levi!_

A voice in his head: Erwin's. It bribed him out of his fit. Levi slowed down his breathing and looked away from his hands. They were the source of the panic. _Just don't look at them._

As he stopped though, the panic only became more logical. _What if this is how I always am now, shaky and unreliable. A golden boy turned to rusted metal._

 _I will let down everyone. My squad, the regiment, the walls… every person that has died and I have sworn to avenge…_

Levi's arms grew weaker and they crumbled under him. Face in the dirt, mind spinning, a sour taste oozing from the back of his throat.

 _I will be dirt._

…

Dirt. _dirt!_

A new kind of panic ran through him, not of hopelessness, but of danger.

 _The ground isn't muddy! Its dry!_

 _My legs aren't working._

 _Meaning._

 _I'm not losing my steady hands, I have been poisoned._

Levi shouted. Whatever is in him is paralyzing him, no telling how long he will be even cable of speaking, and if he gets left out here until someone comes looking… It could be too late.

The sound of his voice was muffled by the ground. Levi pushed with his shoulder to turn on his back, directing his voice to the roof of branches and leafs.

Levi could hear his voice echo of the giant trees coming back to him from a distant and distorting it. Levi wondered if they would even be able to recognize the voice. _They don't need to recognize it, just come._

He did this for what felt like minutes, but in all likelihood it was probably less than 30 seconds

A sound in the distance stopped him. A sound, a voice, someone talking to someone else, all too far away to make out what they are saying, but he knew that it had to be his squad.

Levi opened his mouth to let out another scream, but stopped… a new sound, much deeper than the ones before, heavier, and rhythmic.

It was a titan's foots steps… and it was getting closer.

"RUUUUNNN!"

[Authors note]

So yes, I know I went over what a usual Fanfiction chapter should be but I am a stickler for cliffhangers! I will try to make the other chapters a little more condensed.

This chapter I have published before I have figured out the whole entire story (which is dumb, but I did it anyway) so if you guys want to give me any advice of where it could go, that would be very helpful! I love when readers give their thoughts on what I have written and if you have any ideas of what I should do next, please share! I want this to be as interactive as possible.


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